WikiLeaks

Linking to my recent interview — about the future of Guantánamo under Joe Biden, the proposed extradition of Julian Assange, and more — with Andy Bungay and Colin Crilly for Andy’s show on Riverside Radio, a community radio station in Battersea. Andy also played two songs by my band The Four Fathers.

A link to the video of a two-hour Action4Assange show I took part in on Saturday, discussing the proposed extradition of Julian Assange, my statements during the recent hearings at the Old Bailey, and the significance of the classified military files from Guantánamo, released by Wikileaks in 2011, on which I worked as a media partner. Also interviewed was filmmaker Juan Passarelli.

Promoting “The War on Journalism: The Case of Julian Assange”, a 38-minute film directed by Juan Passarelli, which provides a powerful summary of what the extradition case against Julian Assange is all about, and why it is such a chilling effort to both silence one man and to restrict press freedoms. I was interviewed for the film along with many other people including John Pilger and UN torture rapporteur Nils Melzer.

A link to, and discussion of my interview with the indefatigable US radio host Scott Horton about my statements in support of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange that were read into the court’s evidence during his extradition hearings in London. My statements were based on my work with WikiLeaks as a media partner on the release of classified military files from Guantánamo in 2011, and I was pleased to have the opportunity to explain why the release of these files was so important.

As Julian Assange’s extradition hearing continues at the Old Bailey, I cross-post, with my own introduction, an analysis and appreciation of my work on the Guantánamo files released by WikiLeaks in 2011 (on which I worked as media partner), as written by Patrick Lawrence for Consortium News.

My thoughts as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition hearing begins at the Old Bailey in London, with the US government, under Donald Trump, seeking to extradite him to face espionage charges that would lead to him spending the rest of his life in a US prison, if convicted.

A link to – and my discussion of – an hour-long interview I recently undertook with Chris Cook in Canada for his Gorilla Radio show. We discussed Guantánamo, the ninth anniversary of WikiLeaks’ release of classified military files relating to the Guantánamo prisoners (on which I worked as media partner), the coronavirus, and how it has changed the world to an extraordinary extent (with both positive and negative repercussions), and my photo-journalism project, ‘The State of London.’ Chris also played ‘This Time We Win’, an eco-anthem that is the new single by my band The Four Fathers.

On the 9th anniversary of the release, by WikiLeaks, of classified military files relating to the Guantánamo prisoners, on which I worked as a media partner, I recall their significance, exposing a system of alleged “evidence” that is actually based primarily on torture, abuse and bribery, and I call, again, for Julian Assange’s proposed extradition from the UK to the US, to face espionage charges for being a publisher, to be stopped.

Some good news for a change, as a US judge orders the release from jail of whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who has been imprisoned for a year for refusing to cooperate with a Grand Jury investigation into WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange. The judge, however, refused to waive the $256,000 that Manning was charged for refusing to cooperate with the investigation. I also draw parallels with the ongoing efforts in the UK to extradite Assange to the US to face espionage charges relating to WikiLeaks’ publication of the documents leaked by Manning.

With one week to go until the start of the US extradition hearing for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, I urge the mainstream media to get more involved, drawing on a recent Guardian article by journalist and academic Roy Greenslade, in which he called on newspaper editors to speak out against the proposed extradition as an urgent and necessary defence of press freedom.